The Legion of Death
by Gemakai
Summary: Taking place A few weeks after Arthas's Ascension. The Dark Lady readies her forces to take revenge upon the man who ruined her life.
1. The Calm before the Storm

The Legion of Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Warcraft III or any of it's characters, try and sue me if you want, bub, cuz I DENIED ownership!

Chapter I: The Calm before the Storm

Varimatharas trotted down the Forsaken's Dark Citadel halls, his claws tingling with a everlasting burning power, and his eyes brimming with strength and terror. At the end of the dank, rotten hall was a heavy door, one which he forced opened quite easily with a single hand, and there sat the Dark Lady Sylvanas, picking at her bow string, while the Nathrezim knelt before her, his claw over his chest.

"What is it, Varimatharas?" Sylvannas's voice, although soft, echoed eerily through halls of her citadel. That voice sent chills down Varimatharas's spine. Sylvannas had become a figure that Varimatharas had come to both admire and dreadfully fear at the same time.

"Lady Sylvannas," the dread lord spoke with a strong tone, hiding the fear deep inside of him. "I come bearing some ill news. Arthas and his armies have reached the Lich King's Throne, and are regrouping their forces." The Dreadlord took a deep breath of fear as the Dark Lady cringed a little at the mere mention of Arthas's name, "Simply put, m'lady, Northrend has become a deadman's land."

"I see... Thank you for informing for this matter." The dark ranger rose to her feet and began her way down the hall that Varimatharas had come, the dreadlord following close behind. "Ready our forces, and prepare our ships for sail. I intend to face Arthas, head on."

"But Lady Sylvannas, Arthas's strength has grown tremendously since he's reached the Lich King's lair. To simply assault him now would be fooli-ahh!" The dreadlord stumbled back as Sylvannas readied an arrow and aimed it at the Dreadlord's face.

"I am well aware of that, Dreadlord, but I've sworn that I would have revenge for my people's deaths! I will have revenge for becoming this monster that I am!" She lowered her bow, "And nothing, no one shall stop me from having vengeance! Not you, not the Lich King, nor even my own living kin!" Sylvannas put away her arrow and continued down the hall, "Now, I gave you an order and I expect it done!"

Varimatharas's body was petrified with terror as the Dark Lady walked off. He replied, his voice shaking, "Y-yes, Lady Sylvannas."

It was a peaceful day on Theramore Isle, the Lordaeron survivors lived, blissfully unaware of the troubles of the rest of the world. A month had passed since the Admiral Proudmoore incident, and the survivor's leader, the young beautiful sorceress, Jaina Proudmoore had come out of her grief and strolled through her city's streets, exchanging smiles and small talk with her people. For this small area of Azeroth, life was good. The day's would go by slowly, swordsmen would train fiercely, so should some unexpected thread arrive, they would be ready. The Dwarven peoples that came with Jaina would use the resources from Kalimdor to prepare new and advanced weapons, while the remaining High elves happily taught the young sorceress to extend her magical abilities, and experiment with magic and alchemy. Sure, there were occasionally mishaps and minor explosions in the Arcane Sanctuaries, but nothing catastrophic. Jaina would just laugh when these mistakes happened to her and begin again.

Yep, life was quiet and peaceful on this side of the world, the orcs and trolls had already settled down on the mainlands of Kalimdor and were somewhat fond of the danger that the mainland carried. The centaurs roamed around, trying to pick off solitary warriors that weren't their own, but it did nothing against the main orc armies. They had also made better weaponry for their warriors with the materials of Kalimdor, not only that but the land's harsh environment had harden their hearts and made them stronger than ever before. Good thing that they and the humans were in a alliance now, or the humans would've been screwed, the Horde had proven this during the Proudmoore Incident.

In the northern reaches of Kalimdor, in the deep, green forests of Ashenvale, the Night Elves had also come to a point of rest, with the Legion gone for good, they had found peace, with the exception of the warden, Maiev and her watchers, whose whereabouts were still unknown to the Night Elven peoples, and the mind of the Arch Druid Malfurion was uneasy. He had been this way for a few weeks, worried and restless about something in the world.

It was one day, that Tyrande, concerned for her love, brought up the question, "What troubles you, my dear?" The Priestess took the druid's hand and held it worriedly.

The arch druid looked up at his beloved's face, "It's my brother, Tyrande, I can sense his aura no longer. I fear that the worse may have happened to him, and if that is so, then I can only wonder what it is that could've slain him."

Worry for the demon hunter filled Tyrande's mind now, "What? Impossible. Although, he has forsaken his people and allied himself with Naga, Illidan is still an Night Elf, and only the powers of a demon could stand against that."

"Alas," Malfurion sighed, "We must accept this loss. But we should begin to ready our forces, incase this demon comes after our people." Tyrande nodded and hurried off to assemble her sentinels.

Meanwhile, on the deadly cold roof of the world, the Lich King had already massed his undead minions. Anub'arak had taken the liberty to extinquish all life on the freezing continent. Now the land was truly dead in every aspect; the ground, trees, and even it's citizen were all dead. The Lich King smiled at all this and fortified the coasts of his land, ensuring that no one would try to take it from him ever again.

Anub'arak took his place next to the Lich King, "King Arthas, everything is as you would have it. Your enemies are undone, and Two kingdoms, you now rule."

"...No..." Arthas's voice boomed so loudly that even his Crypt Lord companion was taken aback by it's might. "It is not enough...there are still my enemies in the world. Be they as small as they may seem, they shall all be crushed by the might of the scourge." The undead Nerubian king nodded and crawled back to Lich King's Black city.


	2. Fate of the Forsaken

Chapter II: Fate of the Forsaken

* * *

The cold-hearted fiend lay in wait as he watched his prey from a high hill. A delicate looking victim, Sylvanas, but then again all elves seemed delicate at first glance. Besides, the hunter knew more about his prey than the average assassin. He knew that she had an immortal hatred for the Death Knight Arthas, and that she would do anything to make his undead life miserable. He also knew that making rash decisions can lead to foolish mistakes.

Her recent order had spread her forces very thin and her Black City empty of any formidable resistance. The assassin thought as he rose, 'For the Lich King.' His thin arms spread apart as he began to chant ancient necromancy.

Out of the ground came many warriors, fresh undead with swords carved from bone and rotten skin and bows made from dark wood corrupted by blight. Skeletons with an eternal green fire burning in their hands accompanied the assasin's newly risen army. They spawned with no end, growing like weeds in a badly tended garden, until the fiend lowered his hands, satisfied with the vast army he formed in a matter of minutes. They turned their rattling bodies toward their master, awaiting his command. "…Destroy the base." The skeletons hissed and charged downhill towards the Dark Lady's black citadel.

* * *

Two Necromancers stood guard at the gate into Sylvanas's Undercity, one drawing small sketches into the dirt with his staff, while the other sat on a tree trunk with his nose in a book.

"So…" one spoke up, looking up from his drawing, "Lady Sylvanas is going to Northrend?"

"Yee-up."

"And we're stuck just on guard duty?"

"Yee-up."

"This is going to be boring."

"For you, undoubtably."

The first necromancer sighed, smothering his drawings out with his foot. About that time, the necromancer noticed the pebbles on the ground jumping from some soft rumbling. "What's that?"

"What's what…?" The studying mage glanced up as he too began to hear the rumbling. "A Stampede?" And then, they saw it, many many skeleton warriors rushing down the hill, hissing and clanging their swords together.

"…Eep…"

"This is bad." The wiser Necromancer turned to the other, "Quickly! Send word to Captain Blackheart that we're under attack!" The lesser mage nodded and went through the gate hurriedly, while the other began to raise warriors out of the ground to resist the horde of monsters.

Within seconds the few undead warriors and the necromancer fell and the skeleton army began pounding against the main gate. The remaining Necromancer hurried to the Slaughter Houses, where the undead captain that Sylvanas left to handle the remaining forces remained. He was a Death Knight named Odin Blackheart. "C-Captain Blackheart!"

The dark-eyed swordsman glared down at the necromancer, "What is it?" He growled.

"Th-the base is under attack! Undead forces still loyal to the Lich King attack!" Odin turned and marched out of the Slaughter Houses, the Necromancer following him, "What should we do? Shall we send a runner to Lady Sylvanas?"

"The Dark Lady is too far and too busy to come back immediately."

He made hand gestures to any ghouls, crypt fiends and other necromancers he passed as he headed to the main gate. The Forsaken warriors rallied up and followed the Death Knight.

"We'll make our stand here for the Dark Lady!" Free acolytes hurried to man Meat Wagons and moved them behind the small resistance that stood behind the weakening gate. They loaded the wagons with rotting corpses and pulled back the catapults.

"Now…on my mark," Odin drew his sword and watch the pounding gate as it began to crack. "Ready…" DOOM! DOOM! DOOM! The skeleton army struck harder.

The Gate fell to pieces. "Fire!" And all hell broke loose.

* * *

"Fit as many ghouls as you can into each one, and put the Acolytes in the Crypt Fiend transports. Hurry, we haven't time to waste." Sylvanas gave out commands to her underlings while Varimarthras dealt with Necromancers, Abominations and Meat Wagons. They were nearly ready to depart up to Northrend, but then a Necromancer came up from the south to the Dark Lady, exhausted and nearly dead again, "Lady Sylvanas!"

The Banshee Queen glared at the dark mage, "What is it? Weren't you part of the forces I left at the Undercity? Why are you here!" The angered voice of the Dark Lady shook the heart and mind of the Necromancer.

"Forgive me, my lady, but our city is under attack by the Lich King's forces! Based on what I have seen, they are led by a fearsome Lich."

"A Lich?" Sylvanas gritted her teeth, "That bastard, can't he even die right?" She turned to her ships, wondering what forces she could bring to accompany her as reinforcements. Too many of her forces were on the ships already and if she waited for them to unload, her Citadel would be destroyed before she could assemble her warriors. Then she spotted a group of banshees waiting for their orders to load. 'They will do nicely,' she thought, ordering them to follow her as she hurried back to her base, with the Necromancer close behind.

They ran several miles before the dark mage made it in front of Sylvanas, "Wait, m'lady, there's a faster route back to Undercity."

Suddenly, Sylvanas stopped in her tracks, glared down at the Necromancer and lifted him up by the collar, "Why didn't you say that earlier?" her reverberant voice struck unimaginable terror into the mage's undead heart, stilling his tongue. Sylvanas's growl seemed to make the earth around them shudder. "Nevermind… Just lead us to it, before I kill you myself!" throwing him down without vigor.

"Y-yes, Lady Sylvanas." The Necromancer's voice trembled on the edge of fear. He led the Dark Lady and her banshees to a small cave that reeked of mildew and corpses. "This path practically gives a direct route to Undercity, passing all the terrain above."

"Hmph, fine. We go!" With that, Sylvanas hurried in, readying her bow, the stench warning her of possible dangers of the deep unknown, as the necromancer remained behind, chuckling to himself.


	3. Kel'Thuzad

Chapter III: Kel'Thuzad

* * *

"I see. Is that all, my King?" The Lich spoke to a small crystal ball, which glimmered in his bony hand. "Yes, yes. Sylvanas is finished and only from my skeleton soldiers." He chuckled, "Seems she wasn't as well equipped as you thought, my king…No, Sylvanas herself isn't dead yet, but I'll deal with her myself, unless you want to…As you wish, my lord. Sylvanas shall be dealt with, quickly and painfully. Long live the might of the Scourge, my Lich King." Then he tucked the ball away in his robes just as Sylvanas's steps filled the room.

"Where are we? This is a dead end."

"Ah, The Banshee Queen Sylvanas. Dark Lady of the Forsaken, a pitiful rebellion from the Scourge."

The undead elf glared at the Lich and readied her bow. "Kel'Thuzad! You bastard! Why are you here?"

"Now, now, is that a way to greet an old friend?"

"Friend!" The hatred in Sylvanas's voice skyrocketed at the word. "How the hell would you know what it means to be a 'friend'! Does it mean you'll reap what benefits you can from your 'friends' before stabbing them in the back? Does it mean you'll serve a…a…A Devil just to gain power? Is that it!"

"Hmm…I suppose you're a bit upset about me attacking your base, aren't you?"

"Bastard!" And she fired at the Lich, who merely waved his hand upward and summoned a small skeleton to take the arrow, killing it instantly.

Kel'thuzad laughed, "Now, now, you'll have to do better than that." With that, he spread his bony arms again and summoned an armada of skull soldiers.

"Kill them!" The Dark Lady ordered her banshees, "Kill them all!" The ghostly women screeched and flung themselves at the skeleton armada. Hisses and screams echoed through the cavern as skeleton's crumbled and banshees shrieked out of existence. Soon enough, it was back to just Sylvanas and Kel'thuzad.

"…Well then, that was wasteful, wasn't it?"

"Grrr…" Sylvanas drew another arrow and fired. It struck into Kel'Thuzad's chest, but the Lich wasn't even phased.

He opened his robe and took the arrow from between his ribs, "You're making this very amusing." He waved his hand at the Dark Lady, summoning several more ice shards and lunged them at her.

Sylvanas quickly dodged several, using her elven reflexes to her advantage, but even that couldn't prevent her from avoiding the last spear of frost. It pierced Sylvanas's left shoulder and pinned her to the ground. "Kyaagg!" She cried in pain, struggling to free herself as her enemy floated over to her.

"You know, this would never have happen if you hadn't defied the Lich King. His powers grant us eternal life, as well as great power to undo our enemies and his."

"At the cost of your will and your being!" Sylvanas growled back. "What's eternal life, when you are a horrid monster? What's the point of having god-like powers when you don't even have the control to use it? You don't even have the ability to control your own self!" She gripped the ice spear tightly and shattered it in her palm, leaving several sharp shards in her shoulder. She lifted her self to face Kel'thuzad eye-to-eye, breathing quickly and overcome with pain. "You hear me, Lich?"

"Hmph, you cling to your old life, regardless of what you've become. Arthas shouldn't have even bothered bringing you back, foolish elf."

Gritting her teeth, Sylvanas reached for her knife and slashed at the Lich's skull, but her attack was stopped short from Kel'Thuzad harder than rock arm. He countered by grabbing the ranger's head and ramming it into the cavern wall. "You still don't get it. The Lich King does grant us will. Just to do his bidding. But you, foolish elf, refuse to see things his way!" He threw Sylvanas into the ground and aimed his hand at her, gather blue energy into his bony hand. "Now you shall perish for refusing to obey your one and only master."

'Send my regards to hell, you son of a bitch.' 'Arthas, rest assure, I'll never stop hunting you.' 'I've sworn that I would have revenge for my people's deaths! I will have revenge for becoming this monster that I am! And nothing, no one shall stop me from having vengeance! Not you, not the Lich King, nor even my own living kin!' She couldn't die yet, she still had a vengeance to do.

_Please not yet._

Suddenly, a bright flare struck Kel'thuzad, pushing him back and dropping the Dark Lady. Sylvanas became mildly pleased to see Varimatharas with a squad of Abominations and Ghouls enter their part of cavern. "Defend Lady Sylvanas! Destroy all minions of the Lich King!" He hurried over to the Banshee Queen and helped her up, while Kel'thuzad summoned a vortex and escaped through it. "M'lady, are you all ri—"

"What the hell are you doing! Kill him! Find him and kill him!" She struggled out of her lieutenant's grasp only to fall down again in pain.

"He's gone, Lady Sylvanas, and you're badly wounded."

"What about Undercity? What's happened to it?"

"We've lost a vast majority of our warriors, and our structures are badly damaged, but Odin was able to ward off the Lich King's minions, M'lady."

"Dammit…Just…just recall our forces…we're heading back home." Her lieutenant nodded and went off to gather their forces.

* * *

Gemakai: AHAHAHA! The attack has failed before it began! Now Arthas barely has anything to stand in his way! BWAHAHAHA!

Kora: I had no idea you were a Arthas fan.

Gemakai: I'm not! But still, BWAHAHAHAHA!


End file.
